For the marine shipping industry to cut its carbon footprint in half by 2050, promising technology will need to become reality, and efficiency gains will need to increase as well.
Lucy Nicholson | Reuters
Amazon and IKEA are among the major companies pushing the ocean shipping industry to adopt zero-carbon fuel sources for vessels by 2040.
Marine shipping accounts for 1 billion tons of carbon emissions per year, according to the Clean Air Task Force, which worked with the Aspen Institute on a plan to accelerate a marketplace for zero-carbon shipping among the world’s largest cargo ship owners. The announcement on Tuesday included other consumer-facing companies such as Patagonia, Brooks Running, Inditex, Michelin, Unilever, Tchibo, and Frog Bikes. The announcement did not include cargo companies.
In 2018, the International Maritime Organization set an initial goal of cutting carbon emissions from international shipping by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008.
According to Clean Air Task Force research, for the IMO to reach its goals a large part of the international shipping fleet would need to transition to net-zero-carbon fuels. CATF has cited ammonia as a likely option for marine, though it noted that ammonia is approximately 3-7 times more expensive than conventional marine fuel.
Its research also suggests liquified natural gas as a transition — but only transitional fuel — and small-scale nuclear on-vessel as an underexplored option for the future. It estimated that ships could change over to LNG use for a 15% carbon reduction, but that figure would depend on methane leakage being reduced “well below current levels.”
“In order to combat the climate crisis, we must rapidly decarbonize marine shipping,” Jonathon Lewis, Director of Transportation Decarbonization at CATF said in a statement announcing the consortium of merchants.
CATF stated in its research that U.S. shipping is responsible for 80 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, a figure which is increasing, and for the U.S. shipping fleet to meet the IMO 2050 deadline, use of marine ammonia would need to reach as high as 47 million tonnes.
CATF proposes making marine ammonia from renewables (referred to as green ammonia), nuclear power, or carbon capture and storage operations in industries including fossil fuels (referred to as blue ammonia). But it noted that there is still a long way to go to “make marine ammonia a reality.”
In March of this year, several of the major cargo companies including Maersk, Fleet Management Limited, Keppel Offshore & Marine, Sumitomo Corporation and Yara International began a study of a green ammonia supply chain at the Port of Singapore.
“Emitting zero CO2 when combusted, ammonia has long been considered as one of the most promising alternative marine fuels to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within the shipping industry,” the group said in a statement.
“So far, it is unclear which measures could achieve the emissions reduction targeted by the IMO (much less, reductions that are consistent with the Paris Agreement), but it is unlikely that it will be through technology alone,” CATF wrote in its report on transportation decarbonization. And it said, “The shift to ammonia will need an intense globally coordinated effort.”
IMO itself implemented a mandatory data collection system for fuel oil consumption of ships in March 2018, and by 2025, set the goal of new ship builds being 30% more energy efficient than those built in 2014, according to its greenhouse gas reduction plan.
Over the last few years, Amazon has stepped up its commitment to reducing its carbon footprint while it also has taken over more control of its massive logistics operations. In 2019, Amazon first unveiled its pledge to meet the Paris climate agreement goals through the use of renewable energy and new transportation technology, such as electric delivery vehicles, 10 years ahead of the Paris timeline.
Among its most notable carbon-free transportation investments is electric vehicle maker Rivian, which has raised billions from venture investors including Amazon. The retail giant plans to buy 100,000 electric vehicles from Rivian and, by 2020, Amazon said it had already delivered over 20 million packages using electric vehicles. The retail giant rolled out its custom electric delivery vehicles earlier this year and says it will have 10,000 vehicles on the road by 2022.
The long-promised “more affordable” Tesla model has been spied on Chinese social media, and it’s disappointingly about what we expected: a slightly decontented version of the Model Y.
For many years, Tesla had planned to build a much more affordable vehicle, starting around $25k. This vehicle was nicknamed the “Model 2,” and would have offered the most affordable entry point into the EV market, at least in the West.
In its place, Tesla started offering vague promises about “more affordable models, starting in its Q1 report in April 2024. Tesla later specified that these would enter production in the first half of 2025.
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The language Tesla used suggested that the cheaper vehicles would be “new models,” which means more than one model, and not just based on a current Tesla model. But we reported that this was unlikely to be the case, and that the “new models” would just be a stripped-down Model Y.
So, we’ve got confirmation that actual new models aren’t coming – but it does seem like something cheaper is coming down the pipe. And now, from Chinese social media pics of these “first builds,” we know just what kind of decontenting Tesla will do in order to get the cost savings.
Two videos were posted this weekend, on bilibili and weibo. The first was an exterior video by account “极客小猪” (machine translated as “Geek Piglet”). You’ll have to click through if you want to see the whole thing.
Parked side by side with a Juniper Model Y, the two models seem similar in length
It shows the new Model Y as similar in size to the Juniper refreshed model it’s parked next to, though the front and rear are covered by camouflage and it’s hard to tell with perspective of the camera.
As best we can tell from the captions (which isn’t very well), the account seems to think this might be the upcoming larger Model Y L, and the camera perspective in the particular screeenshot above does make it look like the car in the forefront could be slightly longer than the one in the back. But other perspectives show them looking similar in length, and seeing the various missing parts later in the video, we think it’s likely the “more affordable” model.
There are a few holes in the camouflage that give som indication of what might be different, like that the rear light bar from the Juniper might be cut off rather than running across the whole rear of the car. The new one is also missing the “T E S L A” logo across the rear, as can be seen in a little window showing the rear camera.
The video gets a look at the interior of the vehicle, where the seats are covered up. I originally suspected the vehicle might have cloth seats, but the cover seems to have dropped down in the rear, and something leather-like is showing through, so Tesla may still be using its fake leather product to cover the seats.
It also shows that the center console is cut off between the armrest and the screen, using up less material and giving an open space there. This is somewhat similar to the original design of the Model S, which had a large space in front of the center console. We can’t tell from the video if the 2 phone charging mats are still present or not – it looks like the space they’d normally go is there, but the pattern looks different than the current NFC phone chargers.
For another look at the interior, we saw a couple more photos from another Chinese social media account, 42号车库, or “Garage No. 42” on Weibo. These show the steering wheel, front seats, rear and roof a little more clearly. It seems to be of the same car, given the status of the seat covers in the rear.
More changes become apparent here: there is no panoramic glass roof on the car, and the rear screen which was added in the Juniper refresh is once again eliminated. But the turn signal stalk, which was eliminated in the Model 3 Highland refresh and returned in a vestigial manner in the Juniper refresh, is (thankfully) still there.
The balance of these changes suggest that a lot of them are just rollbacks of the content which was added to the cars in the Juniper refresh. Interestingly, though, the Juniper refresh did not increase the price of the car significantly. So, rolling back those changes shouldn’t decrease the price of the car all that much either.
But these just show us some of the interior and exterior changes – the model might have other changes as well. From time to time, Tesla has offered cheaper versions of its vehicles either with rear-wheel drive only, to save on the cost of the front motor, or with a smaller or cheaper (e.g. LFP) battery. The new “affordable” Model Y might incorporate those changes too, and be able to get cost down more because of it, but we’ll have to wait for more information on that.
Further, there’s been no indication of a cheaper Model 3 or any actual “new models” yet. Model 3 is a smaller car than the Model Y, and thus could be cheaper – if Tesla is saving a significant amount of money by cutting a little plastic out of a center console, surely cutting hundreds of pounds of aluminum would save even more. We had expected the “more affordable models” to include both a stripped-down Model 3 and Model Y, but per Musk’s comments on the call, we might only be getting a Model Y.
Maybe it would be nice to have someone in charge who takes the mission of sustainable transport seriously. Which Musk does not, and has in fact acted against with his recent actions.
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It may be small in size, but Honda promises the new N-ONE e is fit for a “daily partner” with a flexible interior, ample range to navigate the city, and it can even power up your home..
Honda reveals the new N-ONE e electric car
The N-ONE e is Honda’s second light EV, or “kei car” as they are called in Japan. It’s Honda’s second electric kei car, following the N-VAN e, launched in October 2024.
Although the N-VAN e was mainly for business use, the new N-ONE e is specifically designed as an everyday driver.
Honda said the new EV was “developed in pursuit of the ideal EV” with a unique design, spacious interior layout, and enough driving range for daily travels. The N-ONE e is the electric version of Honda’s retro kei car, the N-ONE, which has been on sale in Japan since 2012.
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It looks about the same as the gas-powered model, but the new EV has a new face with a smoothed-out black grille and two additional charge ports up front.
Honda N-ONE e electric car (Source: Honda)
Honda boasted that the electric city car has “added the cleanliness that only an EV can offer” with smoothed edges and a new rounded bumper design.
The interior, on the other hand, has been completely revamped from the gas model to maximize space. It includes a decent-sized infotainment screen and a push-button gear selector.
Honda N-ONE e electric car (Source: Honda)
There’s also plenty of physical buttons for climate control functions and more. To maximize interior space, Honda kept it simple with smart storage options and flexible seating.
Although Honda has yet to reveal specifics, it did say the N-ONE e has achieved a WLTP cruising range of over 270 km (167 miles).
It will likely share parts with the N-VAN e, hinting at a single electric powertrain with up to 63 hp, the limit for kei cars in Japan.
With Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) capabilities, Honda’s new EV can be used as a mobile power source during a natural disaster or power outage. You can also use it to power electronics, a campsite, a worksite, and more on the go.
Honda is opening advanced reservations for the new electric car on Friday, August 31. It’s scheduled to launch in September, around the same time Honda’s “Super EV” for Europe is set to debut.
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A view of Cheniere’s Sabine Pass LNG facility located in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, as seen from Port Arthur, Texas, on June 23, 2025.
Joel Angel Juarez | Reuters
Shares of liquified natural gas, or LNG, companies jumped Monday after the European Union agreed to purchase $750 billion of energy from the U.S.
LNG exporters Cheniere and Venture Global were up about 3% and more than 4%, respectively. NextDecade and New Fortress Energy, which build LNG infrastructure, jumped more than 2% and about 3%, respectively.
EU President Ursula von der Leyen said the purchases would help reduce the bloc’s dependence on Russia for natural gas.
“Purchases of US energy products will diversify our sources of supply and contribute to Europe’s energy security,” Von der Leyen said in a statement over the weekend. “We will replace Russian gas and oil with significant purchases of US LNG, oil and nuclear fuels.”
The energy purchases are part of a broader trade deal struck between the EU and the U.S. over the weekend. The deal imposes 15% tariffs on EU exports to the U.S. In addition to the energy purchases, Brussels has agreed to invest $600 billion in the U.S. above current levels.
President Donald Trump said “energy is a very important component” of the deal during a meeting with von der Leyen on Sunday.